And again, about the REAL story that I mentioned...um...I guess what I meant was, this is more of the beginning of a turn of things in the story. But don't worry, everything'll work out! Hopefully.
gilly: Lmao, you want her to die? Well, your wish is HALF granted in this chapter...you'll just have to read to find out!
the nadja: Oh, it'll start all right. Well, sort of. In a way.
heheangel kisses: Lol, naw, Sakura's too nice of a person.
Mariko: You've actually got a good point there. I think that the blood is actually the hospital's property. Like, you know when you donate your blood and the hospital gives you money for it? Yeah, I guess that's what I'm relating it to.
Cherrysinger: Haha, you're not the only one who wishes anime were real! T-T I SO wish it would happen...
And to all other reviewers: THANK YOU!
But please, no more asking about when Sakura will be found or whatever, because it's really getting on my nerves! Obviously, you're going to find out by reading the story, and by increasing my annoyed level, it's not going to help whatsoever.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura.
CinderSakura
By: Lotus Dreams
Chapter 14: Dreams of Foreshadowing
"Hello, Sakura." Nadeshiko covered her eyes. The light, she thought, the light, it's too bright.
"Sakura...do you remember me?" A man wearing rather shabby clothes approached her. He had glasses, brown hair, and a warm, welcoming smile.
"O-Otou-san?" cried Nadeshiko. "Is that you?"
"You remember me." He was suddenly very close to her. She lowered her arms, and looked into his clear, dark eyes. She felt tears cascading down her cheeks, and she wrapped her arms around her father in an embrace.
"I've missed you so much," cried Nadeshiko, "I've missed you so much, otou-san."
"It's okay now," whispered Fujitaka. "We're together."
Nadeshiko woke with a start. That was the third time she had had that dream, about the same man with brown hair and glasses. Every time, she would call him otou-san, and every time, her supposed 'otou-san' would call her Sakura.
But my name is Nadeshiko, she thought. She fished out the ring from under her shirt. Nadeshiko. Kinomoto Nadeshiko. That's my name. Why did he call me Sakura?
She sat up, and her head suddenly felt dizzy. She had a lot of headaches lately, and the doctor had warned her of it. Sinking back down, she groaned. My head hurts so much.
Her large green eyes stared fixedly at the ceiling, at the white, bare ceiling...
I've never known my parents...could he really be my otou-san?
Matsuo and Makiko had never really explained how she ended up at their doorstep. Whenever she brought up the problem, they only snapped at her to shut up; when she persisted, they rarely said anything further, and when they did, it was usually something like, "It wasn't supposed to happen". What was that supposed to mean?
She remembered the night when Matsuo and Makiko had been packing hurriedly, and moved to another place. When they had arrived, Makiko had been repeatedly shouting at Matsuo.
"This is all your fault!"
"My fault? Argh, stupid woman, if you hadn't been screaming so shrilly when I was driving then - "
"Yeah? Well you don't even know how to drive, maybe that's the reason!"
"Oh yes, blame it all on me - "
"Well it was YOU who did it!"
"Well it was YOU who caused me to do it!"
"How can I CAUSE you to do something?"
"WHATEVER! THERE'S NO POINT IN ARGUING RIGHT NOW, IT'S ALREADY TOO LATE AND IT'S NOT GONNA DO US ANY GOOD! WE CAN ONLY HOPE THAT THEY DON'T FIND US!"
What had THAT meant? Did something about the way Matsuo drove have something to do with them moving? Or her? She frowned. The way Matsuo drove...no, that didn't make any sense. Nobody paid attention to the way anyone drove, not unless...
Not unless it had led to an accident! So Matsuo had probably hit someone...or even killed someone...and they had to move...but still, what did it have to do with her?
The thoughts swirled in her head, a complete and utter mess. Tired, her eyes slowly closed, and she fell asleep.
Touya walked with quick steps through a corridor, his shoes making a clicking noise with every step. He came to two heavy double doors. He forced them open, and revealed a room. In the middle of the room, her back to him, was...
"MANAMI!" he roared. Manami spun around.
"Touya! Onii-chan!" cried Manami. "Onegai - listen to me - I - I only wanted to know what it was like to live a rich life, and to get back at - at Nadeshiko, onegai, onegai - "
"YOU ARE NOT MY LITTLE SISTER, AND I AM NOT YOUR ONII-CHAN!" bellowed Touya.
"I - I - "
"YOU LIED TO ME! YOU LED ME ON A FALSE TRAIL, YOU TRICKED ME INTO THINKING I HAD FOUND MY SISTER AT LAST, AFTER A TEN-YEAR SEARCH, YOU ARE A WITCH!"
"Iie!" Manami burst out desperately. "I didn't mean to, I'll run away, I won't ever be in your sight again, onegai, onegai, onegai - "
Touya ignored her protests. He reached into his pocket.
"Iie!" screamed Manami. She ran towards him, and threw herself at his feet, wrapping her arms around his legs.
"Please don't, please no, I promise, I'll wash out the dye, I'll take out the contacts, I'll go away, far away, as far away as possible, so far that you won't ever see me again, just please don't, please - "
He kicked her off his legs. She was thrown back, sprawled on the floor.
"TOUYA!" she shrieked. "FORGIVE ME - ONEGAI, FORGIVE ME - "
From his pocket, he drew out a gun and pointed it at her.
"IIE!" screamed Manami. "IIE! DON'T DO IT, TOUYA, ONEGAI - "
BANG.
Manami fell to the ground, blood pouring from her head.
Manami's eyes snapped open. Her sweat was making her pajamas stick to her skin, and her hair was somewhat wet. She was breathing rather heavily, and she had the sensation that she had just fallen from a great height (A/N: Don't you just hate it when you wake up like that?), and she was shaking.
"Iie," she whispered. "That is not going to happen."
Getting up, she trotted to the bathroom in her room. She turned on the tap and splashed cold water onto her face, and wiped it with a towel. She regarded herself in the mirror.
For a moment, she thought she saw Nadeshiko staring back at her. Auburn hair, green eyes...except Nadeshiko's face was somewhat rounder, and her cheeks were a little higher. And she wouldn't look as worried as she would. Then she frowned and bent closer to the mirror.
"Shit."
The dye in her hair was wearing out a little, and at the ends were little dashes of blonde. When she lifted her hair up, she noticed more and more streaks of blonde. Of course, she had not gotten permanent dye, in case she wanted to keep her previous blonde hair, but what was Touya going to say when he saw blonde streaks in her hair? Oh, did you put blonde streaks in your hair overnight?
"Kuso," swore Manami. She glanced at the clock. 2:03 am. Well, she thought grimly, let's hope the salon is still open.
By the time she got home, it was already past 5:00 am. She had tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as possibly, grabbed her purse, snuck out the back door, took her car and drove to the salon. That took her about 15 minutes. Then, for 10 minutes straight, she had banged on the door of the salon loudly, and when the hairdresser finally emerged, sleepy and in a bathrobe, she shoved 50,000 yen into her hands and said, "I need a job done quickly." Then, she told the hairdresser her problem, and told her to dye her hair auburn with a longer-lasting dye.
"Why this late?" the hairdresser grumbled.
"Stop your complaining," snapped Manami. "This is an emergency."
"What colour is it again?"
"Auburn."
"Okay."
It took about an hour to do everything properly, but when she was done, Manami looked in the mirror in dismay.
"It's a slightly darker auburn!"
"Yeah, well, you didn't specify." Manami swore again, and stomped out of the salon.
"Bitch," muttered the hairdresser.
Manami took a compact mirror out of her purse to examine the damage. Then her eyes widened in shock.
Can anything get any worse? she almost screamed. One of her contacts had fallen out. Maybe when she had been walking to the salon, because she couldn't find a decent parking space near the salon. Maybe it was in the salon herself. Now she had a left green eye and a right blue eye.
"I hate this," she muttered.
Then, she had gone to the glasses store, where she banged on it for 15 minutes, until the owner emerged in pajamas with a baseball bat. (A/N: Let's just assume that some of these people live where they work.) "We're closed," he growled. "Come again in the morning, you crazy girl."
"Iie!" said Manami angrily. "This is an emergency. Life or death!"
"And I care because..."
Manami almost screamed again, but fuming, she reached into her purse and extracted another 50,000 yen. "One contact. A green one. That's all I need."
After 45 minutes, she finally exited the glasses store. She had made the owner turn on the lights, and tried on green contact after green contact to make sure the colour matched so she wouldn't make the same mistake she did with her hair. When she was satisfied, she left.
And so, she drove home, snuck into the back door, up the stairs making no noise, and into her room, exhausted, and fell asleep almost immediately.
Nadeshiko and Syaoran sat on their thrones, leering over Manami. They were dressed in expensive finery, with golden crowns on their heads. Manami crouched low at their feet, wearing rags. Her blonde hair was filthy, her face was smudged with dirt, and just about every other body part had some form of dirt on it.
Nadeshiko laughed scornfully. "I remember the time you called me filth," she began. "Now I wonder who the REAL filth is? You're covered in it from head to toe, Manami!" Syaoran laughed with her. The insult stung Manami.
"You're worthless," Syaoran continued. "You're a SLAVE. You have no value."
"Now, bring us each a cup of tea," ordered Nadeshiko. "NOW."
Manami raised her head slowly, trembling with rage. "IIE!" she cried. "I WON'T! I REFUSE TO BRING AN UGLY, RUDE, SPOILED QUEEN TEA!"
Nadeshiko's eyes flashed. She stood up slowly. "What. Did. You. Just. Say."
"I said, I REFUSE TO SERVE AN UGLY, RUDE, SPOILED, SELFISH, INCONSIDERATE, UNDESERVING QUEEN!"
"LITTLE BITCH!" screamed Nadeshiko. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT! SYAORAN, GIVE ME YOUR SWORD!" Gladly, Syaoran drew out his sword from his sheath and handed it to Nadeshiko.
"You tell that slave." Nadeshiko raised the sword.
"You will be sorry," she whispered. "Prepare to meet your fate." Then she swung the sword.
"IIE!" someone shrieked. "IIE! SAKURA! SAKURA!"
"Sakura...Sakura...SAKURA!"
"Nan - " Manami sat bolt up in bed. Another nightmare. Touya sat at the foot of her bed.
"It's almost 10:30," he scolded. "Get up. Ojii-chan's gonna be mad."
"H-Hai," stammered Manami shakily. "I'll - I'll get up right away." Touya looked at her worriedly.
"Is something wrong, Sakura?"
Biting her lip, she nodded. Touya raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, you don't look all that well, and your hair - "
"My hair? What about my hair?" Her hand instantly flew to her head. Touya frowned.
"Well, maybe it's just me, but it's kinda looks like it turned darker overnight...or maybe you're just sick, and your skin's too pale?"
"Maybe." She got out of bed. Touya stood up.
"Well, get dressed and go downstairs to eat breakfast, okay?" Manami nodded.
"Hai."
"You don't look well at all today, Nadeshiko." Nadeshiko touched her face.
"I...I don't?" Syaoran inclined his head at her.
"You look really pale, and really worried, like there's something bothering you...didn't you get a good night's sleep?"
Nadeshiko hesitated. "Well, iie, not really."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Just...couldn't sleep, I guess." Because of that dream.
"Well, if you're tired, just tell me, I'm sure I can convince Mr. Kinomoto to let you off. You've been working so hard lately. I'll give you a ride home if you're too tired."
"Iie," stammered Nadeshiko. "It's okay, I can last the day. And besides, I can't take any more days off, I'm already really behind." Syaoran smiled.
"Well, don't work yourself too hard. I don't want to worry about you." Nadeshiko returned the smile.
"Arigatou, Syaoran."
Yay, another chapter finished! Well, most of this chapter was kinda boring, yes, but then again, it's not done yet! It's providing the base for what's going to happen next! Now get out there and REVIEW!
